In Washington state, an outbreak in a nursing facility signaled the pandemic's arrival in the United States. Now, nearly half of new coronavirus cases in the Seattle area are showing up in those in their 20s and 30s, according to a recent analysis of state data.
"This creates a reservoir of disease moving around in the population, simmering, if you will," said Judith Malmgren, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington and author of the study that analyzed Washington's March and April age data. "This can spike to uncontrollable levels in more vulnerable adults very quickly."
[...]
For public health workers, an acceleration of infections in young adults requires a different approach than early in the pandemic, when the strategy was largely to stall the spread of the virus in older populations and those most vulnerable to the disease.
Malmgren said the public health response should now be tailored to a younger demographic. "They are not reading print media. You need to be on social media. You need to use short sentences. You need to use very direct messaging," she said.
Ideally, testing would also be available where young adults already gather, not only at doctors' offices or drive-through testing sites, she said.
The story is similar in California. People under 35 now make up about 44% of new infections in that state, compared with 29% last month, according to an analysis of state data by infectious disease epidemiologist George Lemp.
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